bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
spirit
ר֨וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֤הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Saul
שָׁא֔וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
sat
יוֹשֵׁ֔בyo.Shev
H3427
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
house
בְּבֵית֣וֹbe.vei.To
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
javelin
וַחֲנִית֖וֹva.cha.ni.To
H2595
a lance (for thrusting · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
בְּיָד֑וֹbe.ya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
David
וְדָוִ֖דve.da.Vid
H1732
David · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
played
מְנַגֵּ֥ןme.na.Gen
H5059
properly · verb, piel active participle, masculine singular absolute
hand
בְּיָֽדbe.Yad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1 Samuel 16:16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pa…
1 Samuel 18:10-11 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David play…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 19:8-10
Here I. David continues his good services to his king and country. Though Saul had requited him evil for good, and even his usefulness was the very thing for which Saul envied him, yet he did not therefore retire in sullenness and decline public service. Those that are ill paid for doing good, yet must not be weary of well doing, remembering what a bountiful benefactor our heavenly Father is, even to the froward and unthankful. Notwithstanding the many affronts Saul had given to David, yet we find him, 1. As bold as ever in using his sword for the service of his country, Sa1 19:8. The war broke out again with the Philistines, which gave David occasion again to signalize himself. It was a gre…
SAUL'S MALICIOUS RAGE BREAKS OUT AGAINST DAVID. (Sa1 19:8-17)
David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter--A brilliant victory was gained over the public enemy. But these fresh laurels of David reawakened in the moody breast of Saul the former spirit of envy and melancholy. On David's return to court, the temper of Saul became more fiendish than ever; the melodious strains of the harp had lost all their power to charm; and in a paroxysm of uncontrollable frenzy he aimed a javelin at the person of David--the missile having been thrown with such force that it pierced the chamber wall. David providentially escaped; but the king, having now thrown off t…
And the evil spirit from the Lord - His envy and jealousy again returned, producing distraction of mind, which was exacerbated by diabolic influence. See on Sa1 16:14 (note).
John Gill on 1 Samuel 19:9
And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul,.... His melancholy and frantic disorder returned upon those victories of David, and he grew envious, jealous, spiteful, and malicious:
as he sat in his house with his javelin his hand; which either describes the posture he was in when the evil spirit came upon him; or the effects of it, he became dull and melancholy, did not care to go abroad, but kept at home, and was suspicious of everybody; and therefore kept a javelin in his hand to defend himself; or it may be rather to dispatch David with it, when an opportunity should offer, which quickly did:
and David played with his hand; on some instrument of music, particularly the harp, to drive…
The Church Fathers
And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, etc. When the Son of God in flesh shone with miracles, the spirit of envy was kindled against him in the hearts of the Jews, the Lord giving them over to the desires of their hearts because of the merits of their preceding sins. They were still sitting peacefully in their kingdom and homeland, and confident in their same kingdom's splendors, they did not fear to plot the death of their Savior. Moreover, when they opposed him, and even blasphemed, he, turned to rage, by the example of his meekness and patience, tried to recall them to the mildness of spirit and sobriety, as if by the sweetness of a lyre.
Now it is certainly obvious what the sequence is looking to through the figures of the story. The one of David is predicted by means of David, and the one who was anointed signifies the Christ. And the lyre is a human instrument, but the song which comes from it is the Word which has been made manifest to us through the one who was made flesh, whose work is to destroy the derangement that comes from demons so that "the gods of the nations" may no longer be "demons."That king, however, who had the demons in himself, when the spirits withdrew at the song of him who adapted his instrument to this purpose, smote him with his spear (now a spear is wood which has been equipped with iron), but the wall received the spear instead of him. And we think that the wall is the earthly building, by which we understand the body, in relation to which we see the wood of the cross and the iron. But that David, who is both Christ and king, is without suffering. For the deity does not experience the cross and the nails.
As also, on the other hand, if we have no works, the Spirit flieth away. But if we be deserted by the Spirit, we shall also halt in our works. For when this hath gone, the unclean one cometh: this is plain from Saul. For what if he doth not choke us as he did him, still he strangles us in some other way by wicked works. We have need then of the harp of David, that we may charm our souls with the divine songs, both these, and those from good actions. Since if we do the one only, and while we listen to the charm, war with the charmer by our actions, as he did of old; the remedy will even turn to judgment to us, and the madness become the more furious. For before we heard, the wicked demon was afraid lest we should hear it and recover. But when after hearing it even, we continue the same as we were, this is the very thing to rid him of his fear. Let us sing then the Psalm of good deeds, that we may cast out the sin that is worse than the demon.
Dictionary and topics
Armour — Is employed in the English Bible to denote military equipment, both offensive and defensive. (1.) The offensive weapons were different at different periods of history. The “rod of iron” (Ps. 2:9) is…
Javelin — (1.) Heb. hanith, a lance, from its flexibility (1 Sam. 18:10, 11; 19:9, 10; 20:33). (2.) Heb. romah, a lance for heavy-armed troops, so called from its piercing (Num. 25:7). (See ARMS.)
Minstrel — (Matt. 9:23), a flute-player. Such music was a usual accompaniment of funerals. In 2 Kings 3:15 it denotes a player on a stringed instrument.
David · Naioth, where Saul pursues him — Naioth, where Saul pursues him
Demons · .Saul — .Saul
Javelin · Used by Saul — Used by Saul
Jealousy · .Saul, of David — .Saul, of David
Michal · Rescues David from — Rescues David from
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Another great defeat which David had inflicted upon the Philistines excited Saul to such an extent, that in a fit of insanity he endeavoured to pierce David with his javelin as he was playing before him. The words Ruach Jehovah describe the attack of madness in which Saul threw the javelin at David according to its higher cause, and that, as implied in the words Ruach Jehovah in contrast with Ruach Elohim (Sa1 18:10; Sa1 16:15), as inflicted upon him by Jehovah. The thought expressed is, that the growth of Saul's melancholy was a sign of the hardness of heart to which Jehovah had given him up on account of his impenitence. David happily escaped this javelin also. He slipped away from Saul, s…
vowed: Violating a vow is a serious offense against God (see Num 30:2; Deut 23:21-23; cp. Eccl 5:4-5). But Saul soon disregarded his promise and again sought to kill David (1 Sam 19:9-24).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 19:3
Next to my father. Near my father; en ses aises in O.F.